I Like Thursday #128

Well, it's been a while since I posted on I Like Thursday but there is always something happy to find. Some days you just have to look a little harder is all. One of the best ways to feel good is to read about what others have found "happy" and that's what I'll do too. Just hop on over to LeeAnna's blog where other happy-sharing folks link up too.

We recently took a trip to see family. Who could not be happy here?

Brody watching Wheel of Fortune with Grandpa
and eating gummi bears

I got love from Jacob

Brody likes his back rubbed. Grammy is good at that!

Brody went to the pumpkin patch and brought
home a Giant Pumpkin

Anniversary Date Night
(Grammy & Grandpa watched the kids)

Grammy got to play Monster Trucks with Brody

Grammy took Sadie & Jacob for a walk.
Jacob likes to stand in the wagon to
see where he's going

Brody & Jacob's Halloween Costumes
Brody - Ghost Buster
Jacob - Slime

Family Portrait
before we hit the road

We also visited my brother's family.

Mom, John, Fred, & me
checking out John & Karen's
future homesite

A Boy & His Mama

Jennifer & Chris

Kelli & Hunter
The girls had a wedding to attend

Picture of my Garden
Before we left on the trip

We did not get to see my brother's son but there was exciting news to be shared!

Will you marry me?

She said YES!!!

Lovely Rock!
Of course she said yes. Lol!

John III & Katharine - So Happy

I love Fall. I love being outdoors in the cool, sunny weather even if it means raking Mom's yard.

Lots of leaves

Filled the can with ground-up leaves

 

Looks good!

Right before our trip, my BFF came to visit for a week with a 5-day retreat scheduled in there. We went to Kinderhook Lodge with about 15 others and enjoyed our time together. Kinderhook is located in Illinois but very close to the river. On the other side of the river is Hannibal MO, home of Mark Twain. Vickie & I took a walk to see the Mark Twain statue on the water and check out this river cruise boat. We agreed to do this one day.

Mark Twain Statue
American River Cruise

Polly sort of liked Vickie - Lol!

I usually find something to admire while I walk Gracie. On this day I spied these lovely asters. Aren't they a beautiful shade of purple?

I'm sure LeeAnna gave us a prompt but, the renegade that I am at times, I won't follow today. This post has gone on long enough. Hopefully you can understand why I've been so neglectful of my I Like Thursday posts  now.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week. We are looking forward to another nice weekend here IL!

There Goes September AND October!

Started: October 2, 2023

September has come and gone and I have no finishes to show. What the heck happened? My sister came and we even spent two days sewing at a retreat center together! Oh well.

Here in Illinois we had the All-Illinois Shop Hop running from August through September. I managed to get all the stamps for my region. My completed passport went out in the mail Friday. I would like to mention that, after visiting a nice quilt shop in Columbia IL, Mom, Fred, and I went to a restaurant called Reifschneider's for an early dinner. What a surprise to find that we were there on a Tuesday and the special of the day was: 6oz sirloin, dinner salad, and mashed potatoes for $12.95. What a deal!

My hands haven't been 100% idle though. I have to confess

Finishing this post today, November 11:

Update: I won a Regional Grand Prize on the All IL Shop Hop again this year. You may remember that last year I one an AccuQuilt Baby. This year I scored a Janome Serger! It was donated by Times Square Quilt Shop in Jacksonville IL and I'll pick it up soon. Last year's prize was donated by A to Z Quilt Shop in Quincy IL. At least this year's travel to pick up the prize is a bit closer.

So what have I been up to? I finished all my blocks for Uptown. They need to be squared up, the set-in triangles cut, and then the top sewn together. Here's a photo of the last block. I ran out of bigger pieces of red fabrics used in the previous blocks so in this block, where I used red it was supposed to be blue and where I used blue it was supposed to be red. Looks fine and the quilt police didn't even raid my studio! Lol!

In September I started another quilt with Sentimental Stitches called Red Threads. I'm using brown thread instead so I'll have to come up with a different name for my quilt. It consists of 49 embroidered blocks which we get a new pattern every Friday. Here are a few that I've completed although many need to be pressed.

My Favorite So Far

Just this morning I put the tops on my RSC turquoise pineapples. Geez, they were started in September!

From This ....

To this!

Twilight Stars Sew-a-Long with Primitive Gatherings is still going strong. Here are a few pictures of new stars recently made.

Made These at Kinderhook Retreat in October

Oopsy Doopsy!

That's a Better Star on the Left Now

I found an old project from 2005 or 2006. All it needed was to be quilted and bound. It has Insul-Bright inside so you can place a hot dish on it. I think I'll use it this Thanksgiving for the mashed potatoes!

Very Old Kansas Troubles Fabrics
Finished at Kinderhook Retreat

Back Side to Show the Fancy Machine Quilting Stitches

I used my Accu-Quilt Baby to cut out two quilt tops, one for me with my fabrics and one for Vickie using her fabrics. We joined Sharon, who had cut out her own quilt top, and then all three of us sewed our tops up at Kinderhook. All three look different and mine is definitely not photogenic. It's actually kind of ugly looking, isn't it?

Sharon's

Vickie's

Mine

Of course another Chubby Charmer had to be made. Here is the Fall version for my daughter. The fabric line was Fall Frolic by Moda, I believe.

Polly Needed to Check It Out When I Got Home

That pretty much catches you up on my sewing endeavors. Last month we did our annual Fall Family Visit and I'll catch you up on another post. This one has gone on long enough. Did you make it to the end? Congratulations! Hahaha!

Sharing with my RSC friends on Angela's SoScrappy blog.

I Like Thurs #127

Good morning and welcome again to an I Like Thursday post. There is quite a group of us that share happy things. Each week LeeAnna gathers us up right HERE. Take a break and check in, if you like.

My first like is this beautiful Amethyst Bean Runner. First off, my February birthstone is amethyst so of course I love this plant! This year I put a trellis at the base and it really took off! We have a walk-out basement so the deck is 2-stories high. 

Here's what it looks like while up on the deck. I've got loads of pods with seeds if you'd like a few! Haha!

On "The Kitchen" we saw Geoffrey Zakarian make this Upstate-State Roast Beef Sandwich. While we didn't make sandwiches, we did enjoy it as a roast. Mother LOVED it as I finally made some beef that was rare enough for her. Obviously one could've cooked it to a higher temp if desired.

A couple of other recipes (without pictures) that we tried and found delicious are Tortilla Pizza by Spend with Pennies and this recipe, Slow Cooker Corned Beef by Real Food Whole Life, which my sister brought with her when she came to visit.

As for my reading, I finished and loved "Lessons in Chemistry", but you already knew that. I recently started "The Maid" by Nita Prose. I'm finding it a different sort of read but I am enjoying. I reread the synopsis on GoodReads and it has me wanting to keep going for sure.

GoodReads synopsis HERE

I can't finish the post without a picture of a grandson and today's picture is of Brody. He was just getting dropped off at school. Grandpa really loved his St. Louis Blues shirt! Everyone else just loved his happy, smiling face!

Have a great Thursday!

I Like Thurs #126

I see it's been a while since I posted an I Like post. That doesn't mean I haven't had anything to like. It means I've been lazy or busy or maybe both. I looked through some of my pictures and can tell you that there have been things that I've liked. So here are some of those in no particular order.

My SIL with the dog showing off their 48# of sweet potatoes grown in the backyard garden. Definitely ready for Thanksgiving!

My brother and SIL have a great garden. They successfully grow all sorts of veggies including peppers. Here's a puzzle-worthy picture of some red and yellow peppers.

I watered the clematis and got a late bloom. There were actually three flowers on it last night!

In spite of the clematis bloom, this tree reminds us that Fall is right around the corner.

Do you remember I shared that Brody started school? If not here's a reminder.

Look how good he is writing his name now and also coloring!

I started and finished "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus since last post. This book was recommended to me by my friend Sharon. It is a very enjoyable read. It was funny, poignant, sad, and just a really good book. If you can lay your hands on it, read it!

GoodReads summary HERE

I have now started "The Maid" by Nita Prose. Can't remember how I came across this book. Maybe on the NY Times Best Seller List? Anyway, I'm not very far so I can't say if it's any good yet or not.

GoodReads summary HERE

I've eaten some really good food lately but I'll save the recipes for next week's post. This has gotten long enough. But speaking of eating, the other day I saw this guy in our backyard looking for dinner. He was back again today but I didn't get to my phone in time for a picture. Obviously this is a 5-star restaurant for him! Haha!

I hope you enjoyed a few of my likes. Wishing you a very good week!

Linking up with LeeAnna @ NotAfraidofColor

I've Been Having Fun!

Yes, I've been away from blogging for a while but it's been because I've been having FUN! My sister (Linda) who lives in TX has been visiting! I'm pretty sure you understand now, right? Of course you do!

What did we do while she was here? We visited three quilt stores, had a mini retreat over 2 days at a local quilt shop, enjoyed Tips & Techniques at another quilt shop, cooked meals together, tended to Mom together, went though a few things at Mom's house, and visited a local apple orchard. We walked Gracie every day and paddleboated most evenings. All in all, we had a GREAT visit. And through it all, Fred cleaned the kitchen, made sure Mom was OK when we played away from home, managed a couple of appointments made for the house, and, generally speaking, held down the fort without complaint. The last part being most important. Thank you.

Linda left yesterday and I was off to get Mom to hair weekly hair appointment so Friday Night With Friends started early. While Mom got her hair done, I finished most of my EPP project. Then while watching TV last night, I officially finished the sewing and started removing the papers. Here it is, front & back.

There's a little RSC turquoise in here too!

Some of the papers removed from the center

While on the 2-day mini retreat, I managed to complete three blocks for Twilight Stars QAL with Primitive Gatherings.

Accidentally made this block with the dark in the middle

The actual "assigned" blocks for this week

Then it was time to do a little serious RSC sewing. Got four turquoise/teal pineapples sewn up. Obviously they're missing their tops at this point but that will get done before month's end.

Besides a little secret sewing and a little shopping, I had to laugh at this stitchery in the bathroom.

I hope you have a great weekend. I'll be pulling out papers from my EPP and working on the last Uptown block!

Linking with Wendy @ Sugarlane Designs for FNSI and Angela @ SoScrappy for RSC.

Yellow Pineapples Finished

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days retreating last weekend with my friends. This means I got to catch up on a few things. The first thing I did was get all four of the RSC yellow pineapples completed. Here they are in all their glorious sunny splendor!

Then I figured, since Labor Day was quickly approaching, I'd better get my "summer" Chubby Charmer bag finished. So I did.

Minnick & Simpson Charm Pack

Inside has a nice pocket, divided for my phone

Have you heard about Primitive Gatherings "Twilight Stars QAL"? I'm working on that too. I figured it's only two blocks a week. Shouldn't be too much to ask for, right? Here are last week's 8" finished blocks.

Lovely turquoise, eh?

Later during the week, I really, really wanted to get caught up with Uptown. August block looked to be easy but had a lot of edges to applique. Finished it on Wednesday -- one day to spare before the September block was released on Friday! Yippee!

The final block was released as promised along with the finishing instructions. Lots to keep me busy to get this done.

And that brings you up to speed with my doings. I hope to catch up with what the other quilters are doing, particularly with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge people. September's color is turquoise and it's usually a favorite!

Have a great Labor Day weekend and be safe!